Making Beautiful Deep-Sky Images: Astrophotography with Affordable Equipment and Software

Paperback | October 11, 2007

This book is based around the author's beautiful and sometimes awe-inspiring color images and mosaics of deep-sky objects. The book describes how similar "Hubble class" images can be created by amateur astronomers in their back garden using commercially available telescopes and CCD cameras. Subsequent processing and image enhancement in the "electronic darkroom" is covered in detail as well. A range of telescopes and equipment is considered, from the author's 11-inch with Hyperstar camera, down to more affordable instruments. Appendices provide links to free software - not available from a single source - and are themselves an invaluable resource.

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This book is based around the author's beautiful and sometimes awe-inspiring color images and mosaics of deep-sky objects. The book describes how similar "Hubble class" images can be created by amateur astronomers in their back garden using commercially available telescopes and CCD cameras. Subsequent processing and image enhancement i...

From the Jacket

Amateur astronomers, using commercially available equipment, have taken some beautiful and awe-inspiring color photographs of deep-sky objects. But how?Professor Greg Parker's astronomical photographs are widely known for their excellence, and a selection of them has recently been shown as a public exhibition in the UK. In Making Beaut...

Professor Greg Parker is Head of the Nanoscale Systems Integration Group at Southampton University in Southern England. His deep sky astronomical images have been published in Astronomy Now and Sky at Night magazines. He is the author of Introductory Semiconductor Device Physics (IOP, ISBN 0750310219), and has written many scientific p...

From the reviews:"This is not a guide to deep sky imaging in general, but more a journey of one man's embarkation into this exciting topic. . What I found most impressive was that the topics are kept simple and to the point. . I believe this book has a wealth of information for anybody who wishes to pursue astrophotography as a hobby . . Would I recommend it? Well the simple answer is yes, there is a lot of inspiration to be gained and put into practice." (Ed Sampson, Astronomy Now, June, 2008)"Parker's book is comprised of fourteen chapters spanning 155 pages and two appendices which make up a further six pages. . provides a list of 14 books which give a broad perspective on astronomy and can open doors to the newcomer with general information on astronomy as well as potential targets. . the book provides a good introduction to astrophotography that would be ideally suited to someone contemplating this addictive aspect of amateur astronomy." (Anthony Ayiomamitis, The Observatory, Vol. 128 (1205), August, 2008)